


By Steel

by half_sleeping



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Samurai Detectives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2017-12-23 16:46:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_sleeping/pseuds/half_sleeping
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The AU where they are samurai and they are detectives; collected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AU notes [here](http://half-sleeping.tumblr.com/post/57309706819/samurai-detectives-historical-knb). Samurai Detectives is an AU sustained entirely by the requests made of me during fic memes: this is a collection because they broke my spirit. Everything is a repost. Cases will not be written.

**For lacewood** , samurai!detective!AU; Aomine and Kise are the worst detectives.  
  
  
The blade slid through the paper wall and barely missed the lord's face, slicing all the wall- paper, wood and wall-hangings- in one fell stroke.  
  
"Open in the name of the law!" thundered Aomine, kicking in what remained of the sliding door.  
  
Kise came in through the other, open side of the door, and said with a flourish, "WE ARREST YOU FOR THE CRIME OF- Aominechi wait what was he accused of?"  
  
"Ask Satsuki," said Aomine automatically.  
  
"Momochi isn't _here_ ," said Kise. "Er- drugs? Slaves? Something?"  
  
"We'll ask her when we get back to the station," said Aomine, then flicked out his sword to slice just one hair off the fleeing lord's mustache, and no more. The miscreant stopped dead in his tracks. "Where the hell do you think you're going, I said you're under fucking arrest."  
  
"I said that," said Kise.   
  
"Whatever," said Aomine.   
  
"You were unwise to come without backup!" cried the lord, and yelled, "GUARDS! GUARDS! I have a hundred men on this estate!"  
  
"Oh, those?" said Kise.  
  
"We were done with them before we passed the front gate," said Aomine.  
  
The lord cowered. "IMPOSSIBLE," he said. "You came from the east side! You came over the wall! You were never at the front gate!"  
  
"Yeah," said Aomine. "You've got a big-ass house. We had to go back out and circle around to get to you, we kept getting turned around in there."  
  
"Whatever it is we're arresting you for, it sure does pay," said Kise. "We should look into it, Aominechi."  
  
The lord faltered, then squared his shoulders. "You have no evidence!" he said. "I demand a trial under the law, as is my right!"  
  
Aomine and Kise looked at each other. "Evidence," Aomine said.   
  
"We've got _some_ ," said Kise. "I think."  
  
"If he's killed resisting arrest we won't need evidence," said Aomine hopefully. Akashi had spent considerable effort trying to extract the concept of killed resisting arrest from Aomine's repitore of excuses, but some things were just impossible.   
  
Kuroko's knife flashed and a ninja fell to the ground, making bubbling noises. "Arrest him," Kuroko said. "Momoi-san is already loading the cart with the ledgers."  
  
"What ledgers," said Aomine.   
  
"Kurokochi, I thought we were looking for suspicious boxes!" said Kise.  
  
Kuroko looked at them. "Just bring him along."  
  
  
#when Kise says 'suspicious boxes' he means boxes with 'suspicious' printed on them


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akashi/Kagami; Historical AU

  
  
Akashi, with some vindication, flung Kagami's report right into his face. "Redo it," he said. "And properly, without Tetsuya or Momoi helping you. Your kanji is a disgrace to our entire nation."  
  
"Aomine's is worse," said Kagami in something that in someone less sleep-deprieved would have been a snarl, but it was a pathetic effort. Aomine's method of doing paperwork involved schmoozing up to the suspiciously-educated bento-boy whom everyone knew was really a spy for someone or other, and then dictating to him until Momoi came out and did his paperwork for him because people were starting to talk about Sakurai-kun's weeping. On the plus side, he had perfect paperwork. On the minus, Kagami could not ever count on copying his approach.  
  
"You wanted to do the investigation," said Akashi. "You'll have to finish it properly."  
  
Kagami sighed a little, and took off his jacket to reveal his shirt and another smaller, sleeveless jacket underneath- ridiculous, the number of layers that went into western clothing, to no purpose, except to hug the tight trim curve of his waist, and corral stiff thin white cloth down into his tight trousers, material so fine that Akashi fancied from the side he could see the dark shadow of Kagami's nipple through the fabric- indecent and lacking in dignity. Akashi steeled himself and bent back to his work- to all the _extra_ work Tetsuya's pet project was generating for him. Honestly.  
  
Kagami couldn't help himself, he fidgeted. He wasn't made for sitting for long endless afternoons, for a desk job, and to be fair this wasn't really a desk job, not when he'd run a man through not eight hours ago- (and man did he need _sleep_ ) and not when even Momoi, who ruled the station and answered only to Akashi, carried a sword tucked into her obi between her cleavage like a particularly nasty surprise. Akashi's own swords- Kagami was going to remember the difference between them eventually, besides...length- were behind him, in easy reach. Maybe someday he would get to see Akashi use them, their inscrutable chief whose skills even Aomine spoke of with respect. Maybe someday soon.  
  
After the exertions of a long-ass night, even Akashi's kimono gaped open at the chest, exposing delicate collarbones and offering tempting glimpses of skin like very milky tea, warmed by bare touches of sun. His graceful hands emerged from the long sleeves and held the brush exactly and no doubt perfectly, moving with surety and elegance, no trace of a quiver. Yeah, Kagami wanted to see those hands wrapped around a hilt, that glare coming at him ready to kill. He'd be ready.   
  
Still a hardass, though.  
  
#Kagami uses a sabre #hahaha not that anyone cares #seriously they have swordfights and he uses it against katanas #it is hot as hell #all the historical inaccuracies


	3. Chapter 3

**Kagami accidentally seeing Akashi practice his sword katas**  
  
"It's fucking five am in the fucking morning," said Kagami, yawning as he stuck his head out the screen door; morning _kiai_ screams were somehow even worse when you'd spent the night racing the streets in the dark with a stab wound and useless guns, and useless Kise, full of even more stab wounds. "What the fuck is up with this place?"  
  
"Akashi-kun's private estate," said Kuroko, appearing out of nowhere, "You were safe here until the armies came with the writs to subdue Lord [REDACTED]'s forces." Kuroko nodded in the direction of the noise. "His personal guards and household train bright and early." He considered Kagami. "You're not dead, I see."  
  
"Yeah, no thanks to the idiot brigade," said Kagami, moving his arm, a flesh wound. Heh. He'd be good as new in no time, and it wasn't even his sword arm. "They dead?"  
  
Kuroko's face quirked into the barest hint of a smile. His hair still lay flat on his head, which meant that Kuroko had not slept yet; a ten-minute nap on someone's shoulder messed up his hair. "Kise-kun has been sewn up, and is still sleeping. Aomine-kun out there practicing," he said. "Akashi-kun's opinion is that unless they're dead- or nearly dead, as in the case of Kise-kun- a swordsman should practice every day."  
  
"I'm not out there," said Kagami, unable to deal with so many words at once from Kuroko in the morning. At goddamn five am.   
  
"Akashi-kun does not consider you a swordsman, no," said Kuroko calmly, and perhaps meant something a little more behind it; the war over whether Kagami qualified as a 'real' swordsman raged relentlessly and without quarter in the office every single case. Kuroko abstained on grounds of not strictly being one himself, but everyone else's opinion varied, mostly on the basis of how many people Kagami had hurt recently, and how.  
  
"Whatever," said Kagami. "I'll- go wash up, then I guess his lordship will want us making a report."  
  
"He does look forward to your reports," agreed Kuroko untruthfully, then gave him directions.   
  
Five minutes later, Kagami was lost. He wandered through one building, another building, and then out and around them, and realised he was exactly shit at telling the difference: maybe the roof was different here, or there were something like gardens on this side rather than that side, but _nothing helped_. Eventually he was reduced to washing his face in a fishpond in the hopes of waking up enough to actually regain his bearings. The koi flicked their tails at him, resentfully.   
  
Kagami watched them twine for a few slow moments, and then looked up.   
  
Akashi was stripped to the waist, and holding live steel, good steel, the metal blue-grey and rippling in the morning light. He rested, then moved in quick, deliberate, and forceful motions, returning to the rest position each time, and Kagami was struck by the... purposefulness of it. He could pick out, there, the basic forms, the basic stances, and felt a twinge of nostalgia for his own hours spent just doing the basics, over and over again. He wanted to hold his sword, suddenly. He wanted to fight. Akashi's blade moved through the air like- like, well, a sword, graceful yet deadly. Aomine didn't move like that. Kise didn't. Akashi's movements held the seeds of white lightning.   
  
Akashi did not appear at all surprised to see him, when his movements turned him around and he could see Kagami sprawled on the edge of his fish-pond like a vagrant. He just finished his morning kata, and when he was done sheathed his sword again and came to look down on Kagami.  
  
Kagami looked up at Akashi and blinked, all the smooth muscled skin of their captain. "I really want to fight you," said Kagami to him in English, the foreign syllables harsh against Akashi's ears, shaped by Kagami's mouth. He had done good work last night, him and all Akashi's people. Even Shintarou was currently sleeping off working all night trying to make sure they wouldn't die ignominious deaths. However, that was still no excuse for this.  
  
"I suppose," said Akashi, folding his arms at Kagami. Shintarou had reported no concussion, with a great deal of amusing colour commentary on the hardness of Kagami's head. "That that is the blood loss talking. Stop scaring my fish."  
  
"Sure," said Kagami, still for some reason blinking up at Akashi as if dazed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kagami/Akashi; Strikhedonia (Samurai Detectives)**  
  
“You said you’d give me a fight,” said Kagami, crossing his arms at Akashi unsteadily.  
  
“Did I?” said Akashi, continuing to pretend to read, like Kagami couldn’t see he’d turned the same page three times.  
  
“You did,” said Kagami. “You said, if we recovered the girl without a scratch _and_ she hadn’t been abducted by that guy or whatever, you would admit you were wrong and give me a fight.”  
  
“I wasn’t aware I would admit to any such thing,” said Akashi. “To not being in possession of all the facts at the time, certainly. It was your job to uncover such facts and resolve the matter.” His eyes flicked over Kagami in his shirtsleeves, having lost his jacket at some time in what Akashi had no doubt had been the night’s drunken revelry. Akashi had only just retired himself after a last consultation with Shintarou.  
  
“Thah- That’s bullshit,” said Kagami. “You promised, I remember you promised, you said you would. You said.” He blinked at Akashi, and Akashi thought again about what _good work_ their division was really producing, so much better than a month ago, a year ago, and wondered if his standards were just dropping so much because he was nearly nose-to-crotch with a Kagami who had lost all sense of personal space and was now apparently trying to look down the front of Akashi’s clothes.  
  
Akashi reached out, and jabbed Kagami in the knee. He fell sideways with a yell. “What did you do that for,” he said. “Wait, you don’t like people looking down on you. F’rgot.”  
  
“You are in my private quarters,” said Akashi, rising from his heels to look into Kagami’s face, a hand on either side of his head. “In the dead of night, more than mildly intoxicated, you’ve lost half your clothes somewhere, and your defenses are execrable.”  
  
“Say that again,” said Kagami, squinting up at him, “But slower.”  
  
“Were you not listening to me?” inquired Akashi in tones that could have etched glass.  
  
“It’s the way your mouth moves when you talk,” said Kagami, smiling, and Akashi couldn’t be expected to bear with this, not really, surely he couldn’t expected to _endure_ -  
  
Kagami’s hand, large and well-worn and gentle, curled onto the back of his neck, and pulled Akashi’s face down to his.  
  
The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”.


	5. Chapter 5

**For[](http://twistedsheets10.dreamwidth.org/profile)[ **twistedsheets10**](http://twistedsheets10.dreamwidth.org/)** , Akashi being a mother hen (Samurai Detectives)  
  
Once again, Kagami woke up to the sound of kiai screams and an aching head. And aching knees. His arm hurt, too, but this was because it was tucked under his head on one of those goddawful japanese pillows, hard as a rock. Why did he even have one of these? He had nice, thick soft pillows, full of feathers and- ow. The sun cut bright into his eyes. Maybe his aching head wasn't all the pillow and that ridiculous noise. Fuck, did he still have on his clothes from yesterday? And where was he? If he was in a brothel again, he was going kill Aomine so hard-   
  
He dragged himself pitifully over the polished wood floors. And when he reached the sliding door, he stared out onto a very familiar fishpond.   
  
"Oh, fuck," he said.   
  
"Indeed," said Akashi. "I trust you've now experienced the consequences of overindulgence and debauchery."  
  
"Shochu's got a kick," said Kagami, when he'd puzzled out the longer words. The boss had seen them in more undignified positions than Kagami sprawled onto the floor clutching his head, right? Right. Bleeding all over the floor, for one. Covered in ink and half-naked, wrestling for his clothes with Aomine and Kise. Damn. He always looked like a idiot around Akashi. Kagami wanted to think it was just the company he was keeping, but no, it was probably just Akashi.   
  
Akashi sighed sheathed his sword. He walked over and dipped the folded towel waiting for him on the veranda into the bucket of water set out, still well-cold. He laid it on Kagami's forehead. Kagami made an indistinct sound of gratitude at the cool touch of the water and the darkness of the towel over his eyes. Akashi's fingers moved sure on Kagami's temples, pressing unmercifully and relieving his headache.  
  
"Daiki and Ryouta have the capacity of barrels," said Akashi, still gently reproving. "It was unwise for you to attempt to match them."  
  
"No, they passed out," said Kagami. "I remember this. Kuroko turned up and- something. But he had Aomine over his shoulder and was dragging Kise off. He's stronger than he looks."  
  
Akashi's eyebrow rose, though Kagami could not see this. "I see," he said. "So all of you drank until you were insensate and then disgraced the good name of our office by having to be carted through the streets."  
  
"I was walking," said Kagami. "...more or less. How'd I get here?"  
  
"You walked," said Akashi. "My household guard apparently never saw you."  
  
"I spent the night?" said Kagami, and slipped the towel off his eyes. "Come on, you wouldn't-" He stared.  
  
"What's that on your neck?" said Kagami. "It looks like a- did something _bite_ you?" He couldn't see what else it could be. It flared on the juncture of Akashi's neck and shoulder like a brand. Akashi stiffened and clapped his hand over it.   
  
"You're imagining things," he said, calmly.   
  
"That looks like my mouth," said Kagami.   
  
"I don't see how this could possibly be concluded," said Akashi, and pulled the towel back down over Kagami's eyes. "You're surely mistaken."  
  
"I've bitten people before," said Kagami. "That's a human mouth. And I was here last night. And drunk. And you let me stay over. And my knees hurt."  
  
"One might almost conclude you were a trained investigator," said Akashi. "You are, however, entirely wrong in your conclusions."  
  
"Oh, yeah?" said Kagami, looking at Akashi, Akashi who wouldn't meet his eyes. "What conclusions are those?"


	6. Chapter 6

Akashi/Kagami; Samurai Detectives (Three-sentence fic)

 

“So you sit here, you drink booze, eat snacks, watch flowers, and talk about how pretty they are?” said Kagami, settling himself cross-legged on the blanket; he wasn’t even going to try and sit seiza, “And then you get drunk and run around  hitting on chicks or being hit on by drunk chicks and then starting fights all over the place, I think I get the gist of flower-viewing.”

“It is also accepted practice to mentally and  _silently_  compose poetry about the beauty and serenity of nature,” said Akashi meaningfully, “Daiki’s and Ryouta’s inability to hold their liquor or behave like officials of the law notwithstanding.”

“I see,” said Kagami, imitating his cool dry tone, and as he drank his sake admired, a little, the colour of Akashi’s hair against pink trees.


	7. Chapter 7

**AkaKaga, Samura Detectives AU: Cataglottism**

It was some days after Alex had set sail, fluttering her handkerchief from the railing and calling out promises to come back and visit as soon as she could (“She doesn’t  _mean_ them-” Aomine had said, checking and turning rather ashy, “-does she?”), that Kagami came to realise he was in disgrace at the office. 

“For the last time,” said Kagami, “I didn’t know she was going to be naked when you walked in.”

Akashi considered several less dignified responses to this conversational opener, but settled for pointedly shuffling the papers on his desk until he reached Kagami’s ink-stained and rumped report, and staring at it like he could set it on fire with his mind. “So I gathered,” he said. “Is that all?”

“Well if it’s not that, and I didn’t set anything on fire this month and I wasn’t the one who knocked Kise through the wall and none of us came that close to dying this case, why’re you so pissed?” inquired Kagami, running through the list of things that- as he saw it- put Akashi this out of temper with the world, but unable to come up with anything that would have upset his lordship  _this_ time. Even Midorima had liked Alex, and Midorima had been stricken dumb in sheer outrage by her  _name_. 

“I’m not ‘pissed’,” said Akashi, icily. 

“Is it because she kissed you?” said Kagami, whose understanding of samurai prudery had reached new and interesting levels over the course of this case. 

“No,” snapped Akashi, before he could stop himself. 

“She was thanking you!” said Kagami. “She does that to every- well, to some people a lot.”

“I am aware,” said Akashi, and if he was thinking of the way Miss Alex had cast herself into Kagami’s arms to escape a mob of creditors- and how she had greeted him afterwards, in full view of the entire station, only the slightest narrowing of his eyes showed this. 

“Well,” said Kagami, abandoning this line of attack, “Then if you’re not pissed, we’re going out drinking after duty tonight, and I thought-“

“You thought?” inquired Akashi.

Kagami flushed. “I could ditch those idiots and- Alex passed on some wine, I thought you might like to try that.”

Their eyes met and shared a vivid recollection of the last time Kagami had gone out boozing- he’d ended up in Akashi’s bedroom, drunkenly pawing at their illustrious leader, and in the morning Akashi had had to nurse Kagami through a shattering hangover and several strange bruises in interesting places. 

And now Kagami was offering to get liquored up again, with Akashi again.

 _Did you kiss me like you kiss her_ , Akashi realised he was thinking, and that was ridiculous- just because Kagami had once- and then never spoken of it, never broached the subject again, never given the slightest _hint_ -

“Okay you know what great I’ll come over after work bye,” said Kagami, and fled before Akashi could demur. 

Kissing with tongue.


	8. Chapter 8

**Nijimura/Haizaki**

 

Haizaki hit the ground gasping, choking on air on blood on awe, but he kept his grip on his sword, and as he landed tried to scrabble up again against the sparring ground sand. 

Nijimura kicked him in the face, then settled with his bamboo shinai pressing down just right- just excruciating- on Haizaki’s shoulder.  

Haizaki spat blood on his shoes.

"Cute," said Nijimura. He swung his weapon over his shoulder. “Come again whenever,” he said pleasantly. “I’d like to work up a sweat.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Kise/Kasamatsu; Noble/Peasant AU**

 

Guard duty was supposed to be  _boring_. Routine standing-in-the-sun-all-day boring. Instead, in the space of two short hours, Kasamatsu had drawn steel on a stranger in the street, been drawn on in return, fought a short, pitched battle, rescued a too-pretty delivery boy, and was now sitting in the cool shadow of the backyard of a nearby inn being fussed over by the same delivery boy, his slanted eyes fixed on Kasamatsu’s face.

"I’m fine," said Kasamatsu, brusquely. "I’ve sustained much worse injuries in training. It’s barely a scratch."

Ryou- as he had introduced himself- looked, as well he might, impressed. “You injure each other in training?” he said. Forbidden from carrying a sword, born into poverty and the labouring class, Ryou, like others of his ilk, would be unduly fascinated by any reference to the life Kasamatsu lived. 

The mostly very boring life Kasamatsu lived, but no harm in indulging a kid’s dreams. “Gotta know how to use your weapons,” he said. “It’s a crime to waste a fine blade on someone who doesn’t know how to use it.”

"I’d be very pleased to handle your…" Ryou fluttered his eyelashes at the slightly older boy. "Weapon."

Ah.  _Not_ a delivery boy. Kasamatsu should have listened to Kobori, when he said that it sounded like too much of a ruckus to be making over just one peasant. Clearly it had been some kind of proposition gone sour, not just a matter of a missing payment. Still, Kasamatsu couldn’t be sorry he’d stepped in- raising your sword against an unarmed opponent was contemptible beyond belief. 

"Look, I’m fine now," he said, rising to his feet and upsetting Ryou who had been leaning into his lap, glancing up at Kasamatsu with a pouting, false expression. "I’m going back to my post."

"But-" Ryou said, confused. "How can I thank you?"

"Stay out of trouble," said Kasamatsu, looking over his shoulder. "If it gets too dangerous for you, find a different line of work."

He couldn’t afford an armful as pretty as Ryou, anyway. Not that he’d ever want to take advantage of someone in clearly desperate straits. 

(“-and  _nothing_ ,” said Kise, having finished his report of a week hanging off the arm of Takeuchi’s young, talented and  _oblivious_ captain of the guard some forty minutes of whining ago. 

Momoi and Kuroko exchanged glances. “Maybe Dai-chan,” said Momoi, though doubtfully. How they would have gotten Aomine, with his flashing eyes and air of constant prowling panther, to play Airheaded Country Bumpkin Who Is Definitely Not Investigating Your Pants, was somewhat beyond imagining. 

"No," said Kise. "He doesn’t like boys, Momochi. Your data must be wrong."

Even as he said it Momoi and Kuroko were turning flat stares upon his lovely face. 

"Momoi-san’s data is never wrong, Kise-kun," Kuroko said, after a suitably long moment of writhing embarrassment. "Perhaps you just don’t appeal to him."

"He’s just not that into you," said Momoi, endeavoring to explain an alien concept.

Kise curled his lip. “I can do it,” he said, in direct contradiction to forty minutes of laborious explanation. “I’ll get us into the estate.”)


	10. Chapter 10

**Akashi/Kagami; Bodyswap**

 

“ _Wake up_ ,” a voice snarled, and Kagami was slapped across the face _hard_.

He jerked awake and for the knife he kept under his pillow in one move, but this wasn’t his pillow that wasn’t his hand and someone was pinning him down, hand over mouth over- himself.

"Quiet," said Akashi, in a voice that had Kagami automatically relaxing. “Kagami, you are not under attack."

"What the hell are you doing in my-" started Kagami, but then his brain caught up to what his senses had already told him. “What am I doing here? A- Akashi?"

"I thought so," said Akashi in Kagami’s body, sitting back on his heels. “You needn’t be alarmed, I have alerted none of the guards to my- our- presence."

"What am I-" Kagami stood, staring at his hands and feet and garb in horror. “What the hell-"

Akashi sighed, unearthed his own polished metal mirror, and thrust it into Kagami’s- his own- face, letting the simpleton gape at it for long precious minutes, touching his face in awe. In Kagami’s exertions one sleeve had fallen off Akashi’s shoulder, and Kagami did not know how to stand properly against the weight and drape of the material, baring one slim pale shoulder to the grey light of dawn while he paced and muttered. Akashi stood- _the height_ \- reached out, and pulled his own sleeping yukata closed.

"-where did you get those clothes?" said Kagami, apparently noticing what his body was wearing for the first time. “I don’t own anything like that." Not that he owned _no_ kimonos, but he didn’t own anything that finely-worked, that richly-made.

Kagami was never going to get over watching Akashi’s _what an idiot_ expression travel over his own face. “Daiki and Ryouta are reasonable approximations for your size,” he said.

"You borrowed clothes from them?" said Kagami. Wow, staring _up_ was… weird…

"I broke into their quarters and appropriated them," said Akashi. “They will be returned or I will compensate them after this escapade is over."

 ”Wait, you woke up and that was the first thing you did?” said Kagami. “You could have just put on my clothes.”

Akashi favoured Kagami with a long slow stare with all the benefit of height behind it. “No,” he said, deliberately. “Now, let us devote our attention to how we came to be in this position.”

"You holding me down on your bed?" said Kagami, before he could help himself.

Akashi didn’t bat an eye. “Yes.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KagaAka; First time meeting

"Well, look on the bright side," said Kise, squeezing out his sleeves. "We only set two or three buildings on fire."

Aomine had stripped to his underwear and was ignoring everyone else to pick through Kagami’s discarded- and frankly disgusting- clothing. “How does this work?” he said, pulling at Kagami's ruined boots. “Why don’t you tie it up? It’s so  _thin_.”

Kuroko, miraculously unhurt and only wet on the outside, tied strips of shirt around Kagami’s burns. 

The fire had been isolated, so now it was only a matter of waiting for it to die down, but the blaze was attracting gawkers and worse, officials, over to see what was the matter. 

One such person reined in on his horse and cast a disapproving eye over the motley crew, their tattered clothing, their unclothed and unkempt state. He finished with a survey of their various injuries, lingering on the network of white scars that covered Kagami’s shoulders. Even Aomine and Kise’s seemingly incessant flow of conversation ground to a halt under that stare. 

"I am happy to report that the case has been concluded to our satisfaction, Akashi-kun," said Kuroko. 

"Your satisfaction," repeated this- ‘Akashi’. "And your satisfaction includes-" He looked at the fire, still casting sparks into the sky. "Property damage, loss of life, considerable injury, over-stepping of jurisdictional boundaries, and a disregard for judicial due process and order."

"Yes," said Kuroko. 

The look Akashi directed at Kuroko was extremely comprehensive. “I have no doubt that the affair has been mismanaged from the start,” he said. “It is clear to me that once I have obtained an audience with the governor of this area I will be able to get to the bottom of this farce you have enacted in the name of justice.”

"Hey!" barked Kagami. 

Kise squeaked in fear. 

Kagami stalked up the guy on the horse. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are,” he said, “but you’ve got a lot of fucking nerve coming in and acting like you’re the boss of everything when you’ve got no idea what’s been going on here. The governor? He’s in this up to his neck, and if you had any idea of  _justice_ , you’d be out there arresting him instead of dressing down the only person who gave a damn about what he was up to!” 

Akashi stared down at Kagami. “Who is this?” he said, to Kuroko. 

"Recently he took on a position at our office," said Kuroko. "Kagami-kun’s unique skillset was of vital use in getting us to the bottom of this mismanaged and farcical affair."

"Has he?" said Akashi, icily. 

Kagami squared his shoulders. “I guess so,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like-“

He avoided the sword-thrust just in time.


End file.
